The BioWare Blog has word to expect a playable demo for Mass Effect 3 on February 14th, offering the chance to sample the upcoming RPG sequel. Here's the deal: "The demo will be available on PC, Xbox, PS3 beginning February 14, 2012. You will be playing through the opening level “Earth” which is under attack by those nasty Reapers. This version of the demo will also introduce the Mass Effect 3 co-op multiplayer mode and for the Xbox 360 players out there – Kinect functionality. Fans will be able to access tons of customization options and get enough of a peek at the story that you will be inclined to play it over and over to catch all the nuances." They also offer a FAQ with system requirements, word on early access to the multiplayer portion of the demo, and how to qualify:

What content will be included in the Mass Effect 3 demo?

There are two sections in the Mass Effect 3 demo, both included as part of a single download: The single player section includes 2 areas: the opening level featuring the Reaper attack on Earth, and a level further into the game where Shepard travels to an alien home world to seek their assistance in the war effort. This will be approximately 1 to 2 hours of content.The co-op multiplayer section includes 2 maps: Slum and Noveria. This section will be open to players who have qualified for the early multiplayer access as of Feb 14, and will then open up to all players on Feb 17.

How do I qualify to play the co-op multiplayer section before Feb 17?

The early access program for the demo’s multiplayer section begins on Feb 14, 2012To gain access to multiplayer in the demo any time between Feb 14 and when it opens up for everyone on Feb 17, a player must have met one of the following criteria: Own Battlefield 3 and have activated BF3’s Online Pass. Logging into the demo using the EA Origin Account linked to that Online Pass will automatically unlock the multiplayer section of the demo. Note that you do not have to enter a code anywhere – if you have activated your BF3 online pass, the multiplayer section of the demo will be unlocked for you when the demo goes live. Participate in an early access program that will be announced on Feb 7, 2012 – watch this site for more details.

Bhruic wrote on Jan 19, 2012, 12:09:Now that I agree with. EA has a lot of resources behind it, and they could have made Origin a lot better than it is. Had they tried to compete with Steam on features, rather than simply locking their games to it, I think they could have done so - Steam falls down in quite a few areas. Unfortunately, they haven't chosen to do so.

Although, really, comparing it to other DDs, I'm not sure it's really that much worse. I haven't used Impulse recently, but last time I did, it was pretty poor too. Steam certainly is far from perfect, but they're still head-and-shoulders above most of them.

Whatever Steam's issues are, I can't imagine EA producing anything better... ever. They just have a much more reptilian mindset about their business than Valve.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)

I think even calling it another DD service is generous, there isn't much of an actual service aspect to Origin. It's a very barebones client front end without much in the way of comparative features to Steam. My biggest problem with Origin is how lazy EA has been with it when they had a real opportunity to innovate.

Now that I agree with. EA has a lot of resources behind it, and they could have made Origin a lot better than it is. Had they tried to compete with Steam on features, rather than simply locking their games to it, I think they could have done so - Steam falls down in quite a few areas. Unfortunately, they haven't chosen to do so.

Although, really, comparing it to other DDs, I'm not sure it's really that much worse. I haven't used Impulse recently, but last time I did, it was pretty poor too. Steam certainly is far from perfect, but they're still head-and-shoulders above most of them.

I love people who will buy ME3 but just not with Origin even tho you still have to use it to play and your still supporting this pathetic service and company.

Damned hypocrites.

Really like to know where the hypocrisy supposedly is. Sure, to the extent that I'm buying a game from EA, I'm "supporting" EA, but I've done that with plenty of games in the past, so why is it somehow different just because they have Origin? I'm not buying it directly from them, so they aren't getting the 100% of the sale price they are after. Am I forced to run Origin? Yup, but as I'm not using it for anything but launching the game, I'm not "supporting" them with that either.

And that's assuming that I think Origin/EA are some sort of evil combination, which I don't. I'm already using Origin for BF3, and haven't had any problems with it. While I'm not a fan of having to have multiple launch platforms running, it's really no more intruisive or annoying than Steam is once it's running.

Uh it does in the background, it doesn't pop up a little window letting you know or something. They also recently modified it to scan specific directories instead after coming under fire about it. They still retain a huge amount of information that they are pretty upfront about selling though.

I think even calling it another DD service is generous, there isn't much of an actual service aspect to Origin. It's a very barebones client front end without much in the way of comparative features to Steam. My biggest problem with Origin is how lazy EA has been with it when they had a real opportunity to innovate.

necrosis wrote on Jan 19, 2012, 07:27:I love people who will buy ME3 but just not with Origin even tho you still have to use it to play and your still supporting this pathetic service and company.

Damned hypocrites.

The real hypocrites are the ones that would buy this on Steam excitedly, because Valve DRM is somehow different than EA DRM.

Last time I checked Steam does not scan your entire computer like Origin has been proven to do.

But my personal reason for not getting it because of the Origin requirement is I do not buy games at brick & mortar stores anymore and I am not about to have my games spread across multiple services. I will still grumble if it was on Steam and still required Origin tho not as much and would most likely buy it still. I already hate that Steam games still have other DRM stacked on top of it. But I understand if Valve banned all games that had secondary DRM they would have next to no titles to sell.

Eh I've had yet to see Origin do that the few times I've used it. To me it's just another DD service. I've mentioned before gamers have this habit of putting certain devs/publishers up on a pedestal for no reason. Valve is a perfect example of that.

Gabe loves you guys so much that HL Episode 3 was awesome right? Oh wait. Or hats in TF2? Or EST unlock times on big name releases usually being way past midnight? Among othere annoying things.

I like good games regardless of publisher. Oh noes EA published battlefield3!1111!!! I should deprieve myself of that fun mp shooter just because their name is on the box!!!eleventy11

necrosis wrote on Jan 19, 2012, 07:27:I love people who will buy ME3 but just not with Origin even tho you still have to use it to play and your still supporting this pathetic service and company.

Damned hypocrites.

The real hypocrites are the ones that would buy this on Steam excitedly, because Valve DRM is somehow different than EA DRM.

Last time I checked Steam does not scan your entire computer like Origin has been proven to do.

But my personal reason for not getting it because of the Origin requirement is I do not buy games at brick & mortar stores anymore and I am not about to have my games spread across multiple services. I will still grumble if it was on Steam and still required Origin tho not as much and would most likely buy it still. I already hate that Steam games still have other DRM stacked on top of it. But I understand if Valve banned all games that had secondary DRM they would have next to no titles to sell.

Well it is different, here is one difference: EA is different from Valve. EA is a shareholder company I.E. a corporation. Valve is privately owned. If you dont consider that a significant difference let me ask you this:

Who has a better vision regarding games and gaming in general? One man who owns and controls a company & who used to be a developer, or a board of trustees who represent shareholders and investors who mostly have no previous or any experience in gaming and who only wish to maximize their profit margin?

I can't say I'm very interested in ME3 given that the team doesn't seem to have learned its lessons after ME2. Every piece of preview material has been retarded set piece crap that just further cements problems with Bioware's current development focus and the industry in general.

Adding multiplayer to the third game is just silly. Any resources that could have gone into making it a more fleshed out game should not be diverted to designing a silly lock-in mechanism for used game sales. ME2 was dumbed down to the razors edge and the only redeeming parts of it were the dialogue and to some degree the combat. Forget Origin, ME3 has enough of its own waist high problems to overcome.

InBlack wrote on Jan 19, 2012, 06:07:How the hell will multiplayer work in this game?? It will either be brilliant, or a hell of a clusterfuck.

If your an old school shooter gamer, not sure how brilliant is even a possibility.

The whole premise of ME 2 game play afaik, was to retard your aiming to an unplayable amount while standing or moving. Broken aiming and accuracy unless you were hiding behind bullshit cover (forced cover). bioeaware has clearly supports the *pathetic game play designs* of the guy who ruined the Unreal franchise.

Still haven't installed origin and won't for this, I'm out.

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy.All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.It works the same way in any country.

I'm probably not the first to ention this, but I am struck by the relation to this news story from last week: KoA ME3 Demo Promo

Basically, those who play both the Kingdoms of Amalur demo and the Mass Effect 3 demo will unlock bonus items in Kingdoms of Amalur. A bit of cross promotion.

That said, KoA releases on the 7th, and yet the demo for ME3 releases a week later. It seems a bit of a silly crossover, now. It will still work out to SOME degree to those interested in KoA, just not as well as it would have if the ME3 demo was released at least at the same time as the full KoA retail package. Not much of a concern for those of us who aren't interested in either title, mind you; but not so great for those that are.

In the spirit of giving credit where it's due... It's nice to see that they're actually bothering with a PC demo. Too often we see the "XBox360, PS3" demo, with nothing for the PC, so kudos for making one.

And as I've already gone with Origin for BF3, using it for ME3 won't bother me much. But as with Creston, I won't be buying it there. All the complaints over Origin strike me as kind of silly from that perspective - it's a pretty unintruisive program overall as long as you, well, don't really use it for anything. And as there's no real need to use it, or buy from it, requiring it to run the game is dumb, but rather harmless. Buy from Amazon (or one of the other DDs that sell it), and you're still not "supporting" EA.